Sample Fundraising Letter...

Here is a copy of a fundraising email I sent out last year, just after Tax Day... feel free to plagiarize whatever you need to finish up on your fundraising.

Hi Everyone!  Happy New Tax Year! (I'm sure you're now looking for a good deduction?)

Once again I will be riding 545 miles from San Francisco to Los Angeles in AIDS/Lifecycle 7.  This is my annual "annoy you to ask for a donation" email, the first of a few to ask for a (tax deductible!) donation to my goal of $5,000.

The past year has been a difficult one for my very good friend, Michael F.- who is a cycling buddy and also a Positive Pedaler.  After years of taking the same meds and maintaining a decent number of T-cells, and having the ability to ride his bike from SF to LA TWICE- he has recently had to be hospitalized and his t-cell count has gotten dangerously low.  He is now on a new cocktail of pills and they are hoping to get him on the mend ("and back on his bike too, damnit!" he says) soon.  

That is only one of the reminders of why I choose to ride each year.  Not only for those whom I remember, but for those who are the face of AIDS and HIV in my life.

Now remember someone you have lost, or think of that great person you know who struggles with HIV.  Chances are you know someone, or know someone who knows someone.  That is how widespread AIDS still is.  Young people in the U.S are at persistent risk for HIV infection, especially youth of minority races and ethnicities.

Your donation to my AIDS/Lifecycle Ride will go directly to the San Francisco AIDS Foundation in support of the services it provides both locally and globally.

Thanks in advance for even considering it for a moment! 

Please donate here:

What to pack it all in....

This is the bag I have used the past 6 ALC rides.  Well, ok the first 4 years it was this bag in purple, and then the last 2 years it was this actual bag... with my monogram (Brown) on it!

Your bag must weigh no more than 70 lbs (but hey, please don't stuff it just because you're allowed 70lbs!) and hold your clothing for 7 days, your sleeping bag and your pad (thermarest or air mattress).  You COULD tie your sleeping bag to the outside of your bag, but with a bag this big you won't need to.

This particular bag is the Rolling Adventure Duffle from LL Bean.  In Extra Large, it is $99.50 so be sure that you are planning to use it a few more times to make it worth your while.  

Packing:  Start looking for 2 gallon ziploc bags.  I use 1 bag for each day of cycling clothing- my shorts, jersey, sport bra, socks and bandana.  At the end of each day, my stinky clothes go into the ziploc bag, and my clothes for the next day go into my sleeping bag so that my body heat can keep the clothes warm for the next morning, when I have to put them on before daybreak.  At the end of the week, the ziploc bags all get emptied directly into my washing machine (eeeeuuuuww!)

Wondering about more?  Stay tuned, or drop me an email to ask me!